Link mat.



W. WUODWARD.

LINK MAT.

APPLICATION FILED 050.4, 19I6.

LQQQ' Patented Apr. l?, 191?.

FT i- To all 'whom t mag/001mm:

l Brockton,

"formed of several sans rn WILLIAM woonwnnn, or Bnocn'ron', MASSACHUSETTS, assis-Mon '.ro nnocnron naar.

waarom Be it known that I, WILLIAM WooDwARD, a citizen of theUnited States,- re'siding at in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, h ave yinventednew and useful Improvements lin Mats, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to link mats of the well known type .which comprises links of leather' or other material strung uponJ pintle rods, such links' being usually pieces or thicknesses ofV the leather .or othermaterial placedside by the mat being governed by the length of the pintle rods.

Mats of this character have frequently [caused-inconvenience and annoyance to the `user on account of the ease with which a corner maybe bent up and by the fact that when the corner is .thus bent up the endmost pintle 'rod or possibly the two pintle rodsv nearthe end are bent. As these rods-are usually of ductile metal,- and most commonly of soft iron, they are easily bent, and

when once bent by accident remain bent until straightened. As long as this bent condition is retained evidently much inconvenience can be caused by the mat by tripping of persons walking overl it, preventing closlng of doors, and otherwlse.

My invention has for its object toprevent any such effect as that above indicated, by making impossible the bending up of the corner of the Vmat by any force of magnitude comparable to those which have heretofore caused bending up of the corners of link mats -as above mentioned. Briefly stated the invention consists ina stiiening rod vwhich is passed through the endmost links of themat and is of relatively great l strength to resist bending, incomparison with the rods which form In the drawings, Figure 1 isa plan view-ofa portion of a link'mat with parts broken away toillustrate the construction of the mat and of that. improvement which 'constitutes' my present invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on llne .2-2 of Fig. 1..`

Fig. 3 is a detail view on the pintles.

a larger vscale taken through thel endmost'link of the mat and may be considered as the section on line 3 3 of Fig.v 1. f,

Referring to the drawings ithe mat as a `ifliillllE.

COMPANY, or nnocxrou, MASSACHUSETTS, n eonroanrion or Massncnusn'rrs.

' Linn' Mar.

Iwholeis shown as con'sist'ingof links 5' and pintle rods 6. The links are ordinarily made of leather although they maybe made of any two orl more strips or pieces of leather specimen dieser# teens Patenten api-.ia remi application 'mea remeber a, 191e. semaine.'

placed side by side as shown. This is the preferred mode of construction where scraps or pieces of sole leather, or material having comparable thickness to leather', `are used. These links are strung on the pintle rods, each link being thus engaged with two rods and having holes through which the rods are passed, alternate links projecting in opposite directions from the same pintle rod so as to engage respectively with rods on opposite sides of the common pintle. Preferably the pintles are arranged in pairs being connected at one side of the mat by a connecting portion 7, their ends at the opposite sideof the mat being bent toward one another and passed into'a coupling sleeve 8,

-this construction givin at ,the same time a finished appearance an' preventing the pinvaa tles from becoming disengaged from thew links. i each pair of pintles out of a single rod or wire, bending the saine at points near its m1ddle polnt in the'form of an elongated U having' relatively very long legs or side `easily bent. so that it is quite common for mats of thls character 'to be bent or curled up. at the corners with consequent liability to trl persons walking over the mat, or to inter ere with the closing of a door wheny the mat isplaced next to a door sill,or otherwlse tocause inconvenience and annoy- The liniproven'ient which. constitutes my present mventlon conslsts 1n a relnforce or- This4 eiiect'is secured by making* byreason of the fact that the 4 stiener 10 which is applied to each end of the mat such a way asto oppose bending up of the corners thereof. In lts preferred .I

form this stidener is a rod which is passed through the endmost links between the endmost pintle rod 6 and the neXt adjacent A pintle.

The reinforcing rod 10 lmay be and preferably is materially greater in diameter than the pintle rods. In.one form of mat which I have constructed the ratio of the reinforce to the pintle is as to 10; although in the drawings the pintles are shown larger in vproportionv for clearness. I- may employ rods of tempered steel for the stiifeners inv cases where great additional stiffness is 'required. However, I do not limit the invention as to the material used for the stiffening rods or even to the greater diameter of these rods; neither do I limitthe invention to rods as distinguished from other types of sti-fening or reinforcing members which might be used to the same eEect.

Whatever 'may 'be the form, proportions, or mechanical properties ofthe reinforcing members, their effect is 'to increase greatly the resistance which is offered to bending of the mat at the corners transversely or diagonal-ly, and therefore to overcome the objectionable effect which I have previously described as inherent in link mats as heretoa rod materially greater in diameter than the pintles, or is of hardened andltempered steel, the resistance to bending is materially increased and is made great enough abso.

lut'ely to prevent such bending as the result.

of the casual accidents and forces which have been-*the cause of the bending of mats heretofore made. l

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters `Patent is: Y

1. A link mat comprising pintle rods and links strung upon said rods, in combination with a reinforcing rod passed through the endmost links of the mat betweenthe end' most pintle'rod and the next adjacent pintle'.

2; A mat comprising interconnected longitudinally extending links and transversely extending pintle rods, and a stiffening member engaged with the endmost links of the the mat and having strength to resist distortion in a direction transverse to the plane of the mat;

In testimony whereof I have aliixed my signature. Q i

WILLIAM WOODWARD; 

